I did think that I was in touch with British public opinion but I was proved wrong over Brexit and the same thing could happen with Scottish independence. I believe that Scotland should continue to be part of the United Kingdom and this push for a breakaway, I think, has come about because of a lack of communication between Edinburgh and London.
I have Scottish friends who are in favour of independence but I am never too sure whether there is a degree of “leg pulling” or they do agree that Scotland should stand alone. Yesterday, I mentioned the importance of the elections in Scotland to a number of people including a former high-level English politician.
Their response rather surprised me. Perhaps England, Wales and Scotland should have a referendum on whether they want Scotland to continue in the union was their general concensus of opinion. Obviously, these people were English but they came from different backgrounds and they were all living in Britain.
How things have changed in the space of twenty years. Back then Scottish independence was not even mentioned, the Labour Party and not the Scottish Nationalists was the party of government in Scotland and the Tories were a almost a “bad word” north of the border.
These days the Conservatives are the only real rivals to the nationalists, half the population of Scotland believe that they should breakaway and a sizeable number of people in the rest of the country think they should do so.